Vietnam is building law to restrict social media accounts that can post news-related content. Reuters on September 28 cited three sources who did not wish to be named as just mentioned.
According to Reuters, the regulation will be announced later this year.
One of the three sources said that the Vietnamese government wants to correct the situation, which they say is “notifying” social networks. This situation is said to cause confusion among the public that social media accounts are allowed to function as news channels.
Two of the three Reuters sources also said the new law is intended to lay a legal basis for control of news transmission on platforms such as Facebook and YouTube; as well as forcing more regulatory responsibilities on suppliers. Authorities can ask social networking companies to ban offending accounts according to Vietnamese law.
It is reported that government officials have been conducting discussions with widely watched online media channels as well as Internet companies to discuss what types of accounts are allowed to post news content.
Discussions of such laws are being kept confidential. Reuters contacted the Ministry of Information and Communications and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for relevant information but has not received a response.
The Communist Party of Vietnam continues to maintain strict media censorship and intolerance of opposition using tools that are considered to be among the most draconian in the world.
In August, Vietnam’s government issued Decree 53, effective from October 1, forcing foreign technology firms to store user data at servers located in Vietnam as well as to set up local offices.
The 2021 data shows that there are currently 60-70 million Facebook accounts in Vietnam; annual profit of about one billion dollars for the parent company. Vietnam is one of the top 10 markets of Facebook worldwide.
YouTube also has 60 million users in Vietnam; Tik Tok- 20 million; while Twitter is about the same.
Thoibao.de (Translated)
